A lot of good info and input. Thank you Uno for starting the movement. This is just the beginning.
We all know where the NCAA stands on verbals and we all know of the contact rules. Yet we are constantly be told of the latest commitment by an 8th grader.
To truly implement change we need to involve the CEOs of all the showcase entity out there. One major obstacle is that these entity make a huge amount of money of the system in its current stage. Any change to that would impact their bottom line.
The following quote is from the website listed by. Mark H
The parents are in control here
“In football and basketball the verbal means nothing to the other schools that may be recruiting a kid. Those coaches recruit kids right up until they sign their NLI. There are kids changing their commitments regularly in those sports. They understand the verbal means nothing”.
“Softball is a different story. A kid commits and everyone stops their recruiting effort and the kid is ostracized if she changes her mind.”
The problem in softball is that the parents have handed over control to the TB coaches and the system.
Let’s not blame the parent anymore, but rather educate them on how to retain control.
I have made a point to never share about my DD. Due to the importance of educating the parents I will make an exception this one time.
My DD was offered a verbal in her freshman year. We acknowledged, she communicated with the coach almost monthly through me, until he was able to contact her. We never advertised it and continued contacting and visiting other schools.
In her sophomore year, her new TB coach became aware of the commitment and told us he wanted to list it on the team brochure/roster. We said no. His reply: I will have to give some thought to your continued association with my team. I said thank you and shared it with the family. DD did exactly what we knew she would do. She showed up the next day, finished the games, changed and walk up to him handed over the uniform walked away and never looked back.
In the end she selected a different school and we as a family never lost control of her future. We fly out next week to drop her off as she starts the next phase of her life, where she will receive a great education and play softball.